Recently, a ship had just departed a Mexican port, when two trespassers were observed throwing three packages into the water and then jumping overboard themselves. Both the packages and the trespassers were retrieved by a small craft.

The Britannia P&I Club informed of a recent fraud incident, where Local Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) boarded a ship in Gabon and presented a fine against the ship, but it was proven that they were not in fact PSC officers.

As the Britannia P&I Club informs, the Government of Ukraine has now published the full text of the Regulation on Inspection, Taking Samples of Water and Conducting its Analysis and which came into force on 5 September 2019. The regulations establish the procedures to be followed when taking ballast water samples.

As the Britannia P&I Club informed, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation are introducing a new regulation which comes into effect on 20 August 2019 requiring that all Indonesian and foreign-flagged ships sailing in Indonesian waters install and activate Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Britannia P&I Club informed that it has recently been advised that some operators have been charged USD3,600 for security guards in respect of crew members not holding current US visas, even though they were not disembarking. In order to avoid such charges, all crew should have valid visas before arriving at US ports.

As the Britannia P&I Club informed, it received information from Yantai MSA, saying that foreign vessels often navigate along incorrect routes through the navigation-restricted areas around Miaodao Archipelago. Namely, about ten cases have been reported annually in the last three years.

Peter Hazell, Assistant Vice President, Head of FDD Skuld, focused on the various incidents concerning former coal fired power stations that have started to burn biomass as feedstock in order to enhance sustainability of fuel sources. This results to shipments of wood pellets intended to be burned. Most of these shipments are executed without incident but there are significant hazards associated with the carriage of wood pellets.

Britannia P&I Club referred to the English supreme court that presented its first authoritative judgement in English law, addressing the question of whether it is the carrier or cargo interests who bear the burden of proof under the Hague and Hague-visby rules.

Britannia P&I’s Loss Prevention team published an informational paper on the best way to transfer personnel from one ship to another. There’s a variety of ways to do so, but the most important thing is safety. Generally, the operations are all different as they hide different dangers, concerning the ‘product’ being transferred.

Britannia announced that it has become the first P&I Club to be accepted as a member of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN). By joining MACN, Britannia aspires to provide the Network with input from an insurance sector perspective. MACN Director, Cecilia Müller Torbrand, commented on the importance of Britannia joining the Network, saying that the effect of maritime corruption is felt across the industry.